Friday, October 28, 2016

I’d thought to make this story from my memoir The Kid in
the Kaleidoscope a Halloween
tradition, but I haven’t reposted it in years. I hope it helps put you in the
mood for ghosts and goblins. Check it out (here).

Monday, October 24, 2016

Today I’m announcing the beginning of my give-away. Since my
goal is to increase readership, I’ll briefly mention what my regular followers
already know. I was a professional illustrator for many years as well as a
college art professor. The prize for this give-away is a painting I executed of
a Victorian lady playing with her cat.

A few words about the prize: Several years ago I did a class
demonstration on blocking in an oil painting. One of my students happened to
have a greeting card featuring a painting entitled Hydrangeas, created in 1901 by little-known British artist Phillip
Wilson Steer. I used it for my demonstration. Throughout history, artists have
made copies of works they’ve admired—Titian copied Giorgione, Rubens copied
Titian, Delacroix copied Rubens, Picasso copied everyone.

This canvas, measuring 22x 28 inches (the frame adds another
six inches), was painted quickly, but I’ve always been pleased with the result.
I’ve chosen this picture for my give-away because I feel it will have a broader
appeal than one of the conceptual illustrations which, as an illustrator, were
my bread and butter.

My goal for this event is to increase my readership, but
this is where it gets tricky. A few years back I decided to leave Blogger to
create a new site. I intended to move the Blogger Followers Widget to the new
site so my posts would be easy to access on Bloggers Blog Roll, but I was
disappointed to learn Blogger had changed its policy and no longer allowed
their Blogger Followers Widget to be used on non Blogger sites. I ended up with two sites—the new linked to the
old. My new site has Google+ but I never hear from these folks and don’t
receive comments from them. For years I’ve been trying to get more than three
hundred followers on the original site but Blogger keeps eliminating people for
unknown reasons; I’m currently at 268 followers.

Thanks to those of you who alerted me to a give-away site
called Rafflecopter, which I’ll also be using to launch my give-away.

So here’s how it will work:

The
Rules

#1. If you’re already
a follower and are interested in owning this framed oil painting (the prize includes
shipping) just leave a comment in the usual manner and I’ll add your name to a
hopper.

#2.For more chances to win, announce my give-away on your blog and provide
the following link to my original site: thechubbychatterbox.blogspot.com. Each
referral will land you another chance to win.

#3. New
visitors need to follow me on the Blogger Followers Widget on the right
sidebar.

#4. New
followers need to follow the link to the new site (here) and leave a comment
expressing interest in the painting, identifying Rafflecopter or the referring
blogger guiding them to Chubby Chatterbox.

Hopefully, this will increase my readership and give my
regular followers the advantage of having their name entered multiple times.

My goal is to conclude this promotion on December 3rd leaving plenty of time for the winner
to receive their prize in time for Christmas. More time for delivery might be
needed if a follower from Egypt or China wins. If you have any questions, feel
free to e-mail me. I’ve never attempted a give-away so I’m sure I haven’t thought of everything.

Hopefully, this promotion will be successful and more will
follow. I have more than a few paintings in need of adoption.